Dixon, IL - Visiting the Gipper

Still on our way to the rally in Madison, we stopped in Dixon, Illinois to visit the boyhood home of Ronald Reagan.

First we crossed the Mighty Mississippi, a wondrous site to behold.

Dixon was not too far up the road and we got there by 11:30. The home itself is an unpretentious 2-story white clapboard home, very like all the others on the block. The visit itself was a bit of a disappointment: the family only spent 3 years in this home, none of the furnishings were original nor was any of the home decoration.

However we took the tour to see the rooms themselves. Here is the bedroom where he and his brother slept and the picture is of Reagan, Nancy and his brother when they visited the home at its dedication.

Note the size of the sink in the bathroom, it is tiny. And, here I am with my ‘favorite’ President.

I did hear one great joke that Reagan used to tell about the Soviet Union. Because their system didn’t provide many goods to many people and these goods were extremely pricy, often there were long waits to get things. A man filled in all the voluminous paperwork to get a car and, at the final signing, he was told that the wait was 10 years. He asked if it would be delivered in the morning or the afternoon. When asked why that mattered, he said: ‘because the plumber comes in the morning.’

We got to the campground about 2:30 and found the registration desk hopping. Friday afterrnoon and everyone wants a place in the State Park. We were third in line behind 2 other RV’s and others piled up behind us as we filled in the paperwork. We actually had a reservation for Saturday and Sunday nights but wanted to stay on Friday night also - preferably in the same spot. Parked in back of us was a Board Member of the organization which is holding the rally we are attending next week. Eventually they parked right beside us in the park and we’ll be able to ask them any questions we want. Very handy.

It is a beautiful park with 40 miles of hiking trails, 23 miles of biking trails and 14 miles of equestrian trails. Winter cross-country skiing is also promoted. There are also 275 sites for camping, none have sewer or water but we have a site with 50-amp electricity. Pretty neat (we can use our air conditioner if we wish. I mean, what is camping without air conditioning?) They rent bicycles, paddle boats, fishing boats and kayaks. And, families love this park. It certainly is almost full, given the number of people we have seen. Kids are riding their scooters, adults are sitting around talking and reading and playing board games. The lake is full with people fishing and paddling around. A popular park and we’re enjoying our soujourn here.

We got to our site, set up and then decided to walk around the lake here - on the way hitting the cafe.
Now, the cafe serves the usual: hot dogs, chili dogs, fries, pizza. But they also have a veggie sandwich on a whole wheat ciabatta and, since this was Friday, they have their Friday Fish Fry. Pretty uptown. In fact it is called the Lone Rock Cafe, Espresso Bar and Tea Room. There is also a deck overlooking the lake where we ate.

We followed the trail map and made it around the lake, meeting others on the way. We met 2 elementary school girls running with their fathers and setting a good pace for them, we met another woman who ran by us as if we were sitting on the trail, and other walkers also enjoying the trail.

That state budgets are facing problems is obvious when one visits parks these days. They had so many complaints in Iowa about the park maintenance that they doubled the work force and plan to have the parks ship-shape by next spring. Arizona has closed many state parks. We found the trails here blocked by several trees which had fallen over them.

HOWEVER, and this is big - we really enjoy this park and so are all the others here. Generally it is in great shape, has marvelous facilities and I’d recommend it to anyone for a stay, whether for a weekend or a month or over night.